Srinath-How Quick was he?

[Cricket_God]

I have read that he clocked 156 km/ph and was consistently quicker than donald,
and in 1999 world cup he was 2nd fastest after akhtar,the way he bowled on dustbowls
in india and took wickets at 30 per wicket is amazing.

 

[zaremba]

I saw him bowl a bit and never considered him an out-and-out quick, and I'm surprised that some people think he was. I would be astonished if he was consistently faster than Donald.

Obviously many Indian fans will have seen more of him than me. I may have just seen him on his slow days when he was bowling at fast-medium.

 

[Manee]

From what I have seen of him, I reckon he was 130-140kph most of the time with the potential to bowl 150kph in the southern hemisphere, where speed gun readings tend to be high. I'd reckon the readings in 1996 which had him at 156kph may be a touch high by today's standards.

 

[Bouncer]

I have read that he clocked 156 km/ph and was consistently quicker than donald,
and in 1999 world cup he was 2nd fastest after akhtar,the way he bowled on dustbowls
in india and took wickets at 30 per wicket is amazing.

IMO, He was the best indian fast bowler ever, i never enjoyed watching any indian pacer more than him.

about his pace, he was lively, quite lively but i do not remember watching him bowl 150+, fastes ball that i saw from was 147 or 149 and that was in think in WC 99. but from End tour of 1996 till 1999 WC, he surely was consistent between 140 -- 144...important thing was that he used to produce some almost unplayable deliveries and some of them used to take off considerably right off good length but to RHB and LHB.

 

[tooextracool]

IMO, He was the best indian fast bowler ever

Thats a little OTT dont you think? Kapil Dev was head and shoulders above him, i think few would argue with that.

I watched Srinath bowl fairly often throughout the 90s, he was lively, but definitely not frighteningly quick. Would be very surprised if he bowled at anything over the early 140sk. Without wanting to be too disrespectful to Srinath, I think people have a tendency to look back at him a little too fondly. He didnt have very much going for him between the ears and spent the vast majority of his career getting too carried away with his pace and bowling too short. Ironically, years after making his debut he finally realized the value of line and length, but by this time he had already lost a yard in pace. At best, I would think he was an average bowler who could have been a lot better with his rather mean in-swinger, certainly not world class by any means and that is reflected in his test match record.

 

[Mard]

lol Saeed Anwar use to smack Srinath all over the park. From most what i have seen of him against pakistan, he was terrible

 

[Manee]

The quality sucks, but this spell looks pretty sharp.

 

[Goughy]

I have read that he clocked 156 km/ph and was consistently quicker than donald,
and in 1999 world cup he was 2nd fastest after akhtar,the way he bowled on dustbowls
in india and took wickets at 30 per wicket is amazing.

Id love to see the links to the articles you supposedly read.

He wasnt in the same pace bracket as Donald.

He was medium/quick no more. Purely a guess but mid-late 130s IMO.

Capable of hurrying a batsman and bowling a bouncer but nothing to write home about, pace wise.

 

[Spinksy]

From what I have seen when he has bowled it was only around the 125kilometers per hour - 145kilometers per hour, which is nowhere near as quick as 156kilometers per hour. I doubt that he was the second fastest bowler either at the 1999 world cup. I do have the whole thing on tape/video/dvd somewhere here as well so I shall be checking that. I am still highly doubtful though.

 

[Salamuddin]

Id love to see the links to the articles you supposedly read.

He wasnt in the same pace bracket as Donald.

He was medium/quick no more. Purely a guess but mid-late 130s IMO.

Capable of hurrying a batsman and bowling a bouncer but nothing to write home about, pace wise.

http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/ci-icc/content/story/111878.html

Several of the Saffie batsmen that faced him in 1996-1997 rated him as quicker than Donald in that series.

Now I don't particularly rate Srinath as a bowler but he was undoubtedly capable of producing spells of genuine speed.
He lost a lot of pace after his shoulder injury in 1997 but IMO in the period 1992-1996 he was pretty quick.

Think a lot of people subscribe to the notion that hey he was Indian, he can't have been more than fast medium. However, the testimony of several players who faced him in that period will attest otherwise.

 

[Salamuddin]

Thats a little OTT dont you think? Kapil Dev was head and shoulders above him, i think few would argue with that.

I watched Srinath bowl fairly often throughout the 90s, he was lively, but definitely not frighteningly quick. Would be very surprised if he bowled at anything over the early 140sk. Without wanting to be too disrespectful to Srinath, I think people have a tendency to look back at him a little too fondly. He didnt have very much going for him between the ears and spent the vast majority of his career getting too carried away with his pace and bowling too short. Ironically, years after making his debut he finally realized the value of line and length, but by this time he had already lost a yard in pace. At best, I would think he was an average bowler who could have been a lot better with his rather mean in-swinger, certainly not world class by any means and that is reflected in his test match record.

Not that I disagree with the latter half of the post.....but Srinath most certainly did produce deliveries over 145 km/hr.

 

[Cricket_God]

Those who say he was a average bowlers are morons,

a guy who averaged less than 30 on dustbowls in india with no help for pacers
is surely verygood,how many of todays bowlers average below 30 after playinfg so many tests and that too on flat tracks in india.if he bowled in helpful conditions his average might well have been 25-27

 

[Spinksy]

Those who say he was a average bowlers are morons,

a guy who averaged less than 30 on dustbowls in india with no help for pacers
is surely verygood,how many of todays bowlers average below 30 after playinfg so many tests and that too on flat tracks in india.if he bowled in helpful conditions his average might well have been 25-27

I didn't say that he was average at all I do not think. I just said that he wasn't as fast as you claim that he was to be. That is all.

 

[DaRick]

I didn't say that he was average at all I do not think. I just said that he wasn't as fast as you claim that he was to be. That is all.

I don't think he was directing that at you, actually.

Srinath was, IMO, a pretty good Test bowler and easily India's best since Kapil Dev, but he was no more than that. He did, as mentioned, have a good in-swinger and adapted reasonably well to conditions largely hostile to fast bowling (i.e - the dustbowls which were prevalent in India during his prime). If he was, say, English, he would've had a Test bowling average in the late-20's, methinks.

As for the 156 km/h stuff, I don't buy it. That's the reserve of genuine express quicks like Dale Steyn and Brett Lee (and even they don't touch that kind of speed all that often). Whatever you say about Srinath, he was never in that bracket.

 

[Cricket_God]

I don't think he was directing that at you, actually.

Srinath was, IMO, a pretty good Test bowler and easily India's best since Kapil Dev, but he was no more than that. He did, as mentioned, have a good in-swinger and adapted reasonably well to conditions largely hostile to fast bowling (i.e - the dustbowls which were prevalent in India during his prime). If he was, say, English, he would've had a Test bowling average in the late-20's, methinks.

As for the 156 km/h stuff, I don't buy it. That's the reserve of genuine express quicks like Dale Steyn and Brett Lee (and even they don't touch that kind of speed all that often). Whatever you say about Srinath, he was never in that bracket.

dale steyn????????????????????????????????????????

first he has to touch 150,dalesteyn is no express he is fast ,i have seen dalesteyn in international cricket and his best has been around 150km
that too once in many matches,his physical build does not allow that.

coming to srinath,i have never seen him crossing 150 on tv what i have seen his best has been 149km,but reallly i have also never seen donald,akram,younis to touch that kind of speed either.

 

[bryce]

Those who say he was a average bowlers are morons,

if he bowled in helpful conditions his average might well have been 25-27

Actually, playing in Asia done his average wonders
Srinath in Asia - 119 wickets@26.31

on the other hand...
Srinath in Australia - 20 wickets@50.70
Srinath in England - 11 wickets@39.36
Srinath in New Zealand - 15 wickets@34.66
Srinath in West Indies - 13 wickets@42.92

 

[DaRick]

dale steyn????????????????????????????????????????

first he has to touch 150,dalesteyn is no express he is fast ,i have seen dalesteyn in international cricket and his best has been around 150km
that too once in many matches,his physical build does not allow that.

150km/h is considered to be express pace, genius.

At any rate, according to Manee, he's been timed at 97.4 mph. Perhaps using him as an example was pushing it (I admit myself that I've never seen him bowl quicker than 155 km/h), but that's over 156 km/h.

coming to srinath,i have never seen him crossing 150 on tv what i have seen his best has been 149km,but reallly i have also never seen donald,akram,younis to touch that kind of speed either.

When did you watch Allan Donald, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, though?

 

[DaRick]

Actually, playing in Asia done his average wonders
Srinath in Asia - 119 wickets@26.31

on the other hand...
Srinath in Australia - 20 wickets@50.70
Srinath in England - 11 wickets@39.36
Srinath in New Zealand - 15 wickets@34.66
Srinath in West Indies - 13 wickets@42.92

Unexpected, I must admit. It just shows how well he managed to adapt.

 

[Perm]

Those who say he was a average bowlers are morons,

a guy who averaged less than 30 on dustbowls in india with no help for pacers
is surely verygood,how many of todays bowlers average below 30 after playinfg so many tests and that too on flat tracks in india.if he bowled in helpful conditions his average might well have been 25-27

Roughly half of Srinath's Test matches were played at home, and he averaged 26 in those games. However, away from home his average was a fairly poor 33.

 

[JBH001]

Always saw Srinath as a somewhat under-rated bowler.

Was quite quick too when he wanted to be, especially early on, and capable of reaching the 140 kph mark when on song. But he was better I think in the second third or so of his career when he focussed more on line and length, and also seemed to develp a competent leg cutter to go with his inswinger. He was also, I think, one of the unluckier bowlers in world cricket - I am pretty certain I saw more catches being dropped off his bowling (not to mention fielding misfields) than from any other bowler.

However, he certainly was also prone to getting thumped from time to time.